extensive repair of Airbuses; Only less than 100 aircraft still land

The Airbus fleet was returning to normal operations on Monday after the European aircraft maker implemented sudden software changes faster than expected.

Dozens of airlines from Asia to the U.S. announced an urgent software update mandated by Airbus and global regulators after a solar flare vulnerability was revealed in a recent crash on JetBlue’s A320.

Airbus announced on Monday:

The vast majority of the approximately 6,000 A320 family fleet that were subject to a safety alert have been repaired, with less than 100 still requiring repairs; But some require a longer process, and Colombia‘s Avianca has still suspended bookings for dates up to December 8.

Informed sources said:

The unprecedented decision to recall about half of the A320 family fleet came shortly after a possible but unproven link to the JetBlue plane’s low altitude came to light late last week.

After negotiations with regulatory bodies, Airbus issued its eight-page warning to hundreds of operators last Friday and effectively ordered a temporary grounding, requesting a software repair before the next flight. The directive was seen as the most extensive emergency recall in the company’s history and raised immediate concerns about travel disruption, especially during the busy Thanksgiving weekend in the US.

Industry sources said:

This widespread warning revealed the fact that Airbus did not have full and immediate knowledge of the software version being used due to the delay in reporting.

Several airlines reduced estimates of the number of jets subject to the recall and the time required for the work, which Airbus had initially announced was three hours per plane.

The modification involved reverting to an earlier version of the software that manages the nose angle, and involves uploading the previous version via a cable from a device called a “data uploader” that is carried into the cockpit to prevent cyberattacks.

Questions remain about a subset of the A320 family jets, which are generally older and require a new computer rather than a software reset.

The weekend controversy highlighted changes in industry guidelines since the Boeing 737 Max crisis, industry executives said. During the crisis, the US aircraft manufacturer Boeing was heavily criticized for its handling of fatal crashes that were blamed on a software design error.

According to a Reuters report, it is the first time since that crisis that Airbus has had to deal with global attention to safety on such a scale. Guillaume Fourie, the company’s CEO, publicly apologized for the problem.